Taormino's Expert Guide to Female Os

This week I was inspired to watch porn for breakfast after Tristan Taormino so nicely sent me a copy of her recently released Expert Guide to Female Orgasms. You can read all about it in the V-Spot column, Top of the Moaning to Ya!. In the column, I focused mostly on the first scene in the movie starring Katie St. Ives and Sean Michaels. However, that by no means indicates that the rest of the performers and scenes weren't just as worthy of my rapt attention. Here are some pros and cons of the rest of this flick-worthy flick:

Evanni Solei & Evan Stone

Pros: She is almost as adorable and sweet as the type of sex she enjoys - slow, slow, slow, with lots of kissing and soft orgasms. The resulting intimacy that comes out of her preferences creates a kind of porn scene rarely found in the mainstream with a focus on facial expressions instead of crotch shots, passionate kissing and breathy talking instead of screaming lines for the sake of the camera.

Cons: A lot of people love Evan Stone. I'm sorry, Mr. Stone, but for some reason you freak me out a little. He's the perfect, appreciative gentleman with Evanni, but there's something about his jokes and the hair that, for me, mentally place him on a yacht somewhere with gold chains nestled in his chest hair.

Madison Young & Jiz Lee

Pros: I'm immediately biased towards these two as they represent my favorite former-city-of-residence, San Francisco and I'm familiar with both them and the work they do from my time as a Good Vibrations employee. Their scene celebrates the joy of toys (especially the Hitachi Magic Wand), safer-sex (through glove and lube usage), and throws in some unmainstream aspects like some puppy/kitty role-playing and the orgasmic effects of pain. In a porn about the wide variety female orgasms, these two do a great job representing those who enjoy strong sensations and orgasms that can happen through parts of the body other than the clit.

Cons: The only con, again, was personal for me. I enjoyed Madison Young's screaming orgasms (I swear she screamed at the top of her lungs for over a minute). The only problem is, is that my neighbors probably did, too.

Dylan & Mr. Marcus

Pros: It's obvious that Dylan is really into Mr. Marcus. She says so herself and then, in a cutely re-told story in their interviews, squirts all over his nice jeans to prove it. They have a great way of communicating and Dylan represents strong female adult performers, speaking comfortably and candidly about orgasm and always asking directly for what she does (and doesn't) want.

Cons: While Dylan is a smitten kitten, Mr. Marcus (though totes adorbs with that little smile) doesn't express himself in the same way, making their pairing seem off-kilter, especially in comparison to the amount of chemistry found between the film's other couples.

Adrianna & James

Pros: My first pro is James Deen himself. I LOVE him. My fave male performer to date. I especially love the "shush" noises he makes when he's fucking. I dunno why. These two obviously have the hots for each other in a we-like-to-hang-out-as-much-as-we-like-to-fuck-each-other kind of a way. It's familiar, relateable and hot.

Cons: For some, there might be too much anal and eye-rolling during her orgasms. Certainly not for me, Adrianna - get it, girl. Get. It. But, maybe, for some.

An Even Easier A

This week's column is about the A-spot, the little sensitive pocket that packs a big sensation in the Anterior Fornix in the back of the vagina, located in the curve past the cervix that many refer to as the cul-de-sac.

Now, I'd like you to know right away that I don't like this diagram/picture. I'm not sure why the inner female workings are colored as if they were a dark, somewhat infected labyrinth, I'm really not sure what the red areas are supposed to be, and her pubic hair, while I support the au natural choice, is, quite frankly, distracting. However, my horror at the series of purely disgusting and disturbing images that come up when one Googles "vaginal anterior fornix" trumped my need to find a better diagram. And so, this is the visual guide I can provide for you to supplement my musings about the A-spot in this week's V-spot. Sorry.

It does accurately depict, however, the shaped and tucked in nature of this mostly unknown spot. So, I hope it helps at least a little.

In talking about the A-spot (or the G-spot and P-spot for that matter), I mention toys with "curved tips" and "bulbous heads". For the A-spot in particular, I'd go with one made from a firm material, like glass, metal or, more commonly, silicone. There are literally hundreds of toys on the market that fit this description and many will successfully stimulate any of your many spots with the right finesse. But here are a few recommended examples:

The Dreamy G Mini (left) is a great option for those wanting a direct spot-hit without the a fuller penetrated feeling, as it's petite, discreet and packs a little extra zinger at the tip, where its variable vibration modes are concentrated most.

Lelo's GiGi Rechargeable Vibe (right) has an accessible, slender neck with the perfect little nook to make it around the cul-de-sac. Plug it in to recharge and experiment with its multiple vibration patterns and setting, including A-spot-throbbing pulsations.

For the many who find vibration distracting rather than orgasmic, stick to a curved dildo for easy maneuvering and strap-on capabilities like the Siren Silicone or the pretty-in-the-pink Venus Glass G-Spot Dildo (left).

There you have it, a weird diagram and some toy suggestions - the Cliff Notes to Easy A. How much easier than finding the G-spot could finding the A-spot really be? Hey, at least you can say you hit some kind of spot. And that's the beginning of something great.

valley vote!

The Valley Advocate is doing their annual Best-of-the-Valley Vote until February 9th and I want in! Vote for me (The V-Spot) for "best blog" (though I'm not even sure the column counts as a 'blog') under the voting category "Media Mavens". Who doesn't love a good old-fashioned popularity contest?

seedy sperm

In writing this week's column (Ahoy, Matey!: A Captain's Guide to His Semen) I learned quite a bit more about semen than I thought I ever would. And while I'm almost positive that the reader's question about increasing his amount of semen was a vanity thing, and not a baby-making thing, I did end up breaking a bit of fertile ground.

The Mayo Clinic tells me that good, fertile, sperm is based on three things:
1. quantity (of sperm, not the whole semen package)
2. quality (as in 4% must have quality shape and structure. The Mayo Clinic paints a picture of oval heads and long tails perfect for forward-propellance)
3. and motility (40% of those babies gotta move!)

While the quantity is a whole different issue, briefly touched on in the column, the quality and motility may be improved simply by changing your personal lubricant, as leading lubricants (even saliva and water) have been shown to damage sperm and prevent them from swimming normally. Not helpful for baby-making.

This is where Pre-Seed comes in, a lube who's name alone will show you that its kind of sex isn't slippery, steaming and pleasurable, but more down-to-business and fertilizing. Their clinical studies have shown that you shouldn't use "regular" lube when trying to conceive, as it messes with your vaginal pH balance, has the wrong ion/salt concentration and sometimes contains glycerin, all of which are toxic to your little swimmers.

Pre-Seed, on the other hand, is specifically designed to mimic your natural cervical fluid's temperature, consistency and pH levels during ovulation which, is known to be ideal for our fertile friends, creating, as the Pre-Seeders say, "an optimal sperm environment".

While Pre-Seed has gotten a lot of seemingly reputable press, boasts that it's "less irritating" than mainstream lube and is proud to be the "only lubricant formulated by a woman Sperm Physiologist" named Dr. E, I, for one, might trust the stork more than I trust a doctor with a presumably made up title and a cutely abbrevd. name.

More importantly, upon viewing some results of their clinical studies, it looks as though Pre-Seed was only tested against a few lubes I've never even heard of and the extremely mainstream K.Y. and Astroglide, notorious for their high glycerin content, vaginal irritation and who knows what else. These results don't include and therefore say nothing about the awesome choices available in non-mainstream lubes like the glycerin-free Organic Sliquid varieties and before restricting your selection to Dr. E's Pre-Seed or K.Y., you should educate yourself (start with previous V-spot column Life Beyond K.Y.) and talk to your actual doctor who, hopefully, has a full last name.

why the blog?

So, I write a sex column every week for The Valley Advocate called The V-Spot. It's a sex-positive column, written about topics of my own choosing or based off readers' questions, tackling everything from "why men should take it up the booty" to the ever-popular "how to find your G-spot". I try to be funny and light-hearted, while also being informative and direct, as these are aspects I believe are seriously lacking in mainstream sex/sexuality education. For more on the whys and hows of the column and why I write it, check out my introductory column "Sassy Sex Writer Seeks Eager Readers".

The issue is, I'm a small girl with a lot of big words and a medium-sized word count. When researching and writing my column, I come across a lot of interesting little what-nots that just can't make the editorial slash-and-burn. Think of it this way - the column is our primary relationship - it's reliable, fulfilling and tackles what's most important. The blog, on the other hand, is a tartly little one-night stand. A place of short-lived, extraneous yet tasty morsels like pictures, diagrams, links, and other titillating trivia related to the column's weekly topic.

And like the best one-night stands, I'll try to keep it short and bittersweet. I'll try to keep it casual. But most importantly, I'll try to hit the spot.